Yoke construction for shirts



' C. M. FLORA You: CONSTRUCTION FR SHIRTS 15 1922 4 lSl'ieets-Sheet-latto: nu:

Aug. 5. 1924. 1,504,114

C. M. FLORA YOKE CONSTRUCTION FOR SHIRTS Filed Dec. 15 1922 4Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 5 1924.

c. M. FLORA YOKE CONSTRUCTION FOR SHIRTS Filed Dec. l5 z 1922 4Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug. 5'. 1924.

C. M. FLCRA YOKE CONSTRUCTION FOR ySHIRTS Filed Dec. l5 1922 4Sheets-Sheet. 4

Patented Aug, 5, 1924 cremation ivi.` FLORA, or' OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMAYOKE CONSTRUCTION FOR SHIRTS.

Application le. December i5, 1,922. Serial No. 607,128.

To all whom t may concern;

Be it known that CLARENCE M. FLORA, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Oklahoma City,v in the county of Oklahoma and Stateof Oklahoma, has invented new and useful Improvements in YokeConstructionsV for Shirts, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a neck yoke. for garmentsparticularly of the dress, negligee or outer shirt type for mens wear7whereby the neck and shoulder portions thereof are supported and soconformed to the wearer as to afford a snug lit and suspend the weightofthe garment from the shoulders rather than from the neck or neck bandwith the result that a more smooth and neat hanging or draping of thegarment may be secured, whereby the pressure upon the neck and throat ofthe wearer may be relieved, whereby a tendency to draw the neck banddownward upon the neck of the wearer is avoided, and whereby the Siae ofthe arm hole may be reduced to insure a more snug underarm fit, and atthe same time. to provide a substantial reinforcement for the back, sideand front neck portions of .the garment together with the Vedges of thefront opening of the shirt; and with these objects in view the inventionconsists in a construction and combination of parts 0f which a preferredembodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 isa view of a neck yoke embody ing theinvent-ion applied in theoperative position to a garment of the shirt type wherein the opening isat the front, the

shirt being open to disclose the yoke which is secured to the innersurface of the fabric forming the body of the garment,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the garment, or a view looking downward uponthe shoul der portions thereof with the front and back portions spreadoutward and with the outline of the neck yoke indicated thereon indotted lines which are distinguishable from those of the seam lines ofthe body portion of the garment.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the blank form ing thev neck yoke andindicating the weave lines.

Figure 4 is a view of the blank vwith the free ends of the yoke and theattachedbutton and buttonhole reinforcing strips carried thereby broughtinto operative relation as when the garment to which the yoke is appliedis closed and buttoned or otherwise fastened.

rllhe yoke is of neck encircling form constructed from a flat blankpreferably of woven material and adapted to be secured to the innersurface of the garment as indicated in Figure 1 wherein the yoke isrepresented at 10 and the material of the garment at 11, with the freeends of the yoke coinciding with the edges 12 of the opening in thefront of the garment, and with the button and buttonhole reinforcingstrips 13 carried by and extended in alignment with the free end edgesof the yoke and secured to in reinforcing relation with the edges of theopening at the front of the garment.

The device comprises essentially a transverse body member 14 which inthis instance is the back member and extends across the back of thegarment in rear of the neck opening thereof and side members 15 ofcurved contour which together with the main transverse member define aneck Opening 16, said main and side members merging into and beingextended laterally to form shoul-l der members 17 which extend to thearm holes 18 of the garment and have their terminal edges caught in thearmhole seams 19 at the upper sides of the armholes so that saidshoulder members extend over and bear upon the shoulders of the wearer.

The side members 15 terminate short of the center line of the yoke toform edges 20 which are disposed (see Figure 3) on outwardly divergentlines., and as'the side members of the yoke are of a considerable widthmeasured from the neckv opening to the outer peripheries thereof,amounting for example to three or four inches more or less, it isObvious that in order to draw the terminal edges 2O of said side membersinto meet-ing or overlapping relation or into parallelism as by theclosing of the opening at the front of the garment to which the deviceis attached it is necessary to contract the outer periphery of the yoketo a greater extent than the inner periphery thereof which constitutesthe neck opening, and therefore to cause a downward movement relativelyof the shoulder members throughout their lengths and particularly attheir outer ends so as to effect a downwardly bearing action of theshoulder members upon the shoulders of the wearer of the garment tothereby support the garment from the shoulder points rather than fromthe neck and at the same time cause the intermediate portions of theshoulder members to conform to any irregularity or dipping of ktheshoulders of the wearer and consequently effecting a snug bearing of thegarment upon the shoulders. The button and buttonhole reinforcing strips13 are extended on outwardly divergent lines corresponding with andforming continuations of the end edges of the side meinbers lof the yokeas plainly indicated in- Figure 3 and therefore being stitched toy theedges of the opening at the front of the garment to which the yoke isapplied said reinforcing strips 13 serve to reinforce said opening edgesand maintain a proper rela-v tion thereof when the yoke has beentensioned at its outer periphery by the drawing together of theoutwardly divergent'end edges of the yoke due to theclosing of theopening at the front of the garment.

From a practical standpoint it is important, however, that the yokeshall be formed with the material constituting the same on abias and inthe construction illustrated the bias line, bisecting the angle formedby the weave lines of the fabric forming the yoke, and indicated by thedotted line a in Figure 3 is on a transverse diainetral line of the neckopening. The advantage in arranging the fabric forming the yoke in biasrela-V tion-with the latter isthat it affords a yielding quality of theyoke'on the lines of strain -to which the yoke is subjected in theclosfitting of the neck opening of the yoke or garment of the neck ofthe wearer, and when the yoke is constructed as above described with thefree end edges of the side members thereof and the reinforcing stripsv13 disposed on outwardly divergent lines, radiating from theapproximate center of the neck opening, the bias arrangement of theweave is maintained throughout the lengt-hs of said reinforcing stripsas well as throughV the back, yshoulder and side members of the yokeproper'. f

The outer peripheral edges of the side members of the yoke, between thearmhole stitches and the' stitches which secure the ends of said membersto the edges of the opening at the front ofthe garment are of vthe neckof the garment and conforming to the shoulders thereof, the body portionY having a neck opening and front extensions to overlap at the front ofthe neck, said front extensions merging into reinforcing strips to besecured to the opposite portions of the opening at the front'offthegarment,

thereby reinforcing the butt-on and buttonholes.

2. rlhe combination with a garment provided with an opening at thefront, of a reinforcing lining yoke for the neck and shoulder portionsof the garment, said lining yoke comprising a body portion secured toand extending across the back of the neck of the garment and secured toand (':onformingV to the shoulders of the garment, said body portionhaving a neck opening Vand front eX-. tensions merging into reinforcingstrips se-Q,

cured to the opposite portions of the opening at the front of thegarment,- said front extensions with the corresponding portions of theopening in the garment adapted to overlap, whereby the strips mayreinforce the button and buttonhole portions of the opening at the frontof the garment, said lining yoke being cut on the bias from a blank ofmaterial, whereby any strain downward upon the reinforcing strips willbe at right angles to a bias line diametral of the neck portion of theyoke bisecting t-he angle formed by the weave lines ofthe fabric..

In testimony whereof he aifiXes his signature.

CLARENCE M. FLORA,

